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Welcome to the discussion post for In the Name of Blossom (2025), season 2 of Flourished Peony (2024)! Find previous discussion posts here: Ep. 1-4

NOTE: I'll try to upload a discussion post for every 4 episodes to give folks time to catch up according to the Viki airing schedule. Expect a post every 2-3 days.

Want to learn more about the show? Read the Masterpost.

🚨 PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS FOR ANYTHING BEYOND EPISODE 8 🚨

Personal Thoughts & Musings

Again, so evil and yet so pretty.

The villains! Based on my appreciation for the villains in Flourished Peony and The Double, I have now realized that "psychopathic princess obsessed with her scholarly boyfriend who happens to be a self-pitying martyr with delusions of grandeur and an even crueler streak and yet who still manages to find time to fixate on his ex-wife who he had previously mistreated" are my two favorite villain archetypes. Princess Li’s background story gives a lot of context for her neediness towards Liu Chang but I’m glad the show emphasizes how her power has corrupted her and makes her dangerous. She treats people like “ants” and is unrepentant. And sanctimonious Liu Chang, rather than accept how his poor choices have led him to where he is, continues to agitate her. They’re toxic and dangerous, making their problems everyone else’s problems and I eat it up. That couple spat in front of the Flower Garden as it burned? Riveting and disturbing in its callousness towards the lives inside. Oh, how far you've fallen, Liu Chang. You lashed out at Princess Li for describing love as an obsession but you don't see how your obsessions will destroy you just the same? The arrogance.

This shot might have been one of the most disturbing in the whole show for me. The way he just sat back to wait for the Flower Garden to \"burn just a bit more.\" I'm really liking how the show films how mundanely Liu Chang sees his own evil now.

The romance! We finally have some movement in the romance department although not all in the ways I wanted. Harrumph. It was great seeing Mu Dan finally start to recognize and, more importantly, accept Jiang Chang Yang’s feelings towards her when he confronted his fear and risked his life to save her peonies from the fire. I loved that she gifted him a hairpin to match her comb. That they know each other's love language despite not making it official is so beautiful: Mu Dan cares about her flowers because of the connection to her mother and her own self-fulfillment while Chang Yang enjoys traditional symbols of marriage. But Sheng Yi’s brother intercepting her gift? I groaned. This is why adults use their Big Words not just Grand Gestures, kids. At the same time, I thought the miscommunication trope makes sense for these characters given Mu Dan’s wariness towards marriage and Chang Yang being hyper sensitive to that. And at least the show didn’t wallow too much in it. It didn’t make Lady Xiao’s attraction to Chang Yang a Thing and instead had her resolve it like the mature adult she is. (Pretty sure she sees Mu Dan and Chang Yang's feelings as well.) It also had our dynamic duo come together to figure out the mystery of Princess Li using Prince Ning’s oil for arson, which gave way to some of my fave scenes this episode.

So we didn't get a kiss but look at all The Romance with a capital R:

One of my fave scenes of this episode was when Mu Dan compared herself to a fox stuck on land while Chang Yang and Lady Xiao were fish who could navigate the treacherous waters of court together but then Chang Yang reminded her “What I need is for my companion to help me back to shore”. And then we see Mu Dan doing just that when she drew the imperial sword on Liu Chang to prevent him from raiding the mansion. You better work, Mu Dan. Kick his ass lol

Chuan Yu narrating Chang Yang's exact motivations for saving the peonies in the fire was peak comedy. He and Fu are the MVPs of this series.

The love shimmering in their eyes makes me feel so single. They're going to be insufferable when they get together officially, aren't they?

Chang Yang's gentle rejection of Lady Xiao. I liked the juxtaposition of Mu Dan's sadness at the sword dance being performed on her stage of pedals with Chang Yang severing any notion of marriage with Lady Xiao. They attribute completely different meaning to the same blade.

Which is then mirrored with the miscommunication about the hairpin. But what I love about Chang Yang fixing the break with gold is that it represents his faith that Mu Dan's (assumed) feelings might change. This instantly made me think of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. We can never completely put together something that has been broken the same it was before, but those breaks should be seen as beautiful because the gold makes it even stronger than before.

Now I know that almost kiss might have temporarily distracted you, Chang Yang, but I know you didn't miss the significance of her still wearing the bracelet you gifted her (and wore on a spy mission at that because the stones provide her light in the darkness of life!).

\"She burned your wife’s garden, and you burned her father’s private warehouse. You truly are a match made in heaven.\"

Only in Flourished Peony are divorce papers romantic as hell.

Misc. Thoughts!

• I'm now even more curious about Chang Yang's background after the flashback to losing his sister in the fire. It's clear he and the Emperor have known each other for some time but I wonder in what context.
• If anyone understands Tang Dynasty court politics, please educate me because I just didn't understand how Prince Ning could threaten (and in front of the Emperor!) Chang Yang enough to allow Liu Chang to search his private residence like that.

Just two bros, drunk and sitting in each other's laps, to distract from an illegal search and seizure and possible treason. The usual in this court.